Merry Little Christmas
by Brizdyn
Summary: Roy and Riza are alone working Christmas Eve but skipping out on work for a nightcap is a much better idea. Chapter 2 up, Roy and Riza face their feelings but it's not so easy... RoyAi
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Just a little dabble. The best thing about Royai is that it's so subtle and simple. Just enough to make you crave more but you're never fully satisfied!

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**Merry Little Christmas**

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The office certainly was decorated for the holidays, but neither the scowl on Roy Mustang's face, nor the cold demeanour of Riza Hawkeye denoted any recognition that tonight was Christmas Eve. The pair sat at their desks, trying to complete yet another stack of paperwork before they could permit themselves to leave. Mustang had dismissed everyone else because they had parties and relatives to see but as for himself and Hawkeye, neither had any immediate family in the city.

Mustang fiddled absentmindedly with the tinsel that lined the borders of his desk. He had his chin resting in his hand and he looked on at Riza. She felt his eyes on her but she continued writing, hoping that she'd lead by example and he'd finally put his pen to paper.

Finally after a good 10 minutes of his procrastination she lifted her head and cleared her throat.

"It would be nice if you gave me a hand, sir." She said.

Roy contemplated this for a moment.

"What do you want for Christmas, Hawkeye?" he asked.

"What like ask Santa-? " She began "That has nothing to do with our paperwork, sir"

"You have absolutely no sense of humour, do you?" Roy said.

Riza shot him a look. She was only like this because she had to babysit Roy Mustang. She had been fun at some time in her life.

_No, no actually, I've never been 'fun' at all. Yup, if someone were to have ever pegged me with adjectives, 'fun-loving' would never make the top 10, _she thought.

"Sir, please stop trying to goad me. I'd like to get out of here some time tonight." Riza said and lowered her eyes back to her work.

He jumped on this answer, "Why? Are you going somewhere?"

"N-no...But it is Christmas Eve and I'd like t-"

"Then you should come over to my place for a nightcap." He said.

Riza eyes snapped toward Mustang. He let a smile linger while she contemplated answering his request. She decided to treat him to silence, it was the best way to discern a sincere proposal from Mustang.

After a few minutes he spoke again, "I mean, what's the fun in spending Christmas alone?"

Oh so he was serious. Riza felt the heat in her cheeks. It's not that she didn't trust or _like_ Mustang, it's just they didn't fraternize outside of work. In all the years she had known Mustang, she couldn't exactly call him a buddy. They were friends and confidants at work but their private lives had never crossed again since their youth.

"I don't really think it's appropriate, Roy" Riza caught her slip and inhaled sharply.

She held her breath until Roy chuckled and got up from his desk and sat on Riza's. He gave her a smirk and leaned in and spoke in a low voice. "C'mon, you used my first name. You're killing me here, just come over and have a Christmas toast."

"Look, by the time we get this work done it'll be midnight and I'd rather just go home and sleep." She said.

"Oh? No, I think we're done here." Roy said as he swiped all the paper off Riza's desk, onto the floor. She gasped; it was near blasphemous to treat military documents like that.

"Colonel! I can't leave the office looking like this!" Riza yelled and scrambled to the floor to pick up her papers. Roy grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to her feet.

"I'm your boss, right? I say leave them, I'll come in the morning and clean it up." He said "We just need to get out of here."

Riza looked back at the office as Roy pulled her out the door. She sighed and looked back at Roy who was leading her by the arm through the halls. He didn't look at her, but rather he seemed to be concentrating like a man on a mission.

_Why can't I ever get him to work this efficiently?_ Riza asked herself.

The drive to Mustang's was a short 10 minutes away. He lived in the military quarters but his home wasn't an apartment but a quaint townhouse. Riza had seen it once before, when Roy had moved in and enlisted the help of his subordinates to help him. Inside had changed dramatically, of course it looked like a bachelor's pad but it was distinctly masculine.

His living room was a velvety chocolate colour and he had obviously splurged on large leather couch. And naturally the room's centerpiece was its antique fireplace. Riza was somewhat surprised by the warmth and cosiness of his home but she noticed there were no Christmas decorations anywhere.

"I thought you were all gunho about Christmas, sir." Riza said.

"Please, Roy." He said from the kitchen, "And I really had no plans for Christmas, I feel silly decorating just for myself. But I really do like the holidays."

Riza unbuttoned her uniform jacket and laid it over the back of a chair. Roy entered the living room with a tray, two cups of coffee and a bottle of alcohol. He nodded over for Riza to have a seat on the leather sofa. She obliged him and he sat next to her and put the tray on the table in front of them. He poured some whiskey in each of their cups and handed one to Riza.

"Cheers, Riza." He said.

"Cheers" she mumbled.

Mustang mixed his drinks strong and Riza decided it was best to just sip it for now. He leaned back on the couch and closed his eyes. Riza watched him, not sure if he was planning to fall asleep or just resting his eyes.

"Do you remember our first Christmas together?" he asked suddenly.

"Yes, father got into the liquor and nearly burnt down the tree." Riza said.

"Do you remember what I gave you?"

Riza thought back. Was this a trick question? She didn't remember exchanging gifts with Mustang.

"...No..." she said hesitantly.

"I did have a present for you," Roy said and chuckled "but I couldn't bring myself to give it to you."

Riza shifted in her seat and held her silence. She wasn't exactly sure how he wanted her to react. When they were younger, they weren't exactly friends then either. Roy had always been an enigma to her and now she felt he was trying to tease her or come to some punchline.

"I should go, it's getting pretty late." Riza said and stood up. She quickly gathered her jacket and reached for the door when Roy took one stride and met her at the entrance and held the door shut.

He leaned over her closely, "What did you ask for this Christmas?" he asked again.

Riza felt her heartbeat in her ears and she looked up in his onyx eyes. He wore a serious expression and she couldn't break his gaze. He lowered his face closer to hers, their lips nearly touching.

Riza felt weak in the knees and if she could just inch herself closer without being obvious...

"I...." she trailed off.

Roy held his position in front of her for a moment longer and then turned his head away and backed off.

He looked back at her smiled and said "Oh well, maybe next year."

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R&R-I might feel the inspiration bunnies plotting another chapter...


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Ok so this is not so slap happy but it's definitely sappy and a little sad. I hope you big romantics out there understand why portray RoyAi like this and aren't too disappointed.

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Roy spent the morning of the 25th with his head under his pillow, trying to block out the sunlight. He felt his body retaliate against the liquor poisoning he forced upon himself. The waves of nausea rocked his stomach and it was only by God's grace was he able to lunge himself out of bed and over his toilet bowl. He leaned over and spewed the remaining alcohol out of his system and when the worse of his queasiness was over; he curled up in a corner and pressed his face against the cold tiles for relief.

After Hawkeye rushed out the door on Christmas Eve, Roy felt the pang of guilt and embarrassment. He knew he nearly stepped the line and put her into an awkward situation. He didn't even _kiss _her and yet he felt like he had violated her trust. She was so flustered and quick to leave that he couldn't apologize or pass off the whole incident as a joke.

And when Roy turned around, sitting on his coffee table was the whiskey bottle.

He spent the late hours of Christmas Eve hammered until he passed out in bed sometime between three or four in the morning. For the first time, Roy was thankful he had no family expecting him for Christmas.

After spending several minutes on the cold floor, Roy picked himself off and stripped off his uniform pants and black shirt. He looked into the mirror, clad only in his boxer briefs and dark circles under his eyes. He finished undressing and he turned on the shower taps and jumped in.

An hour later he was unlocking his office door. He decided to come in to work in his civilian clothes as there was no official business to be conducted today. Inside the office he saw the mess of papers he left all over the floor. He closed the door, picked up the papers and sat down at his desk.

"I might as well just finish them since I'm here." Roy said to himself.

In the eerie silence of the office, he found he could concentrate. No one to distract him, no one to talk to and especially no one to steal glances at.

Just as the thought passed, the doorknob turned slowly and in walked Riza. Her hair was let down and she wore a plain tan skirt and crisp white blouse. She carried her coat over her arm but nearly dropped it when she saw Roy sitting at his desk.

"Oh! Sir, I was just coming in to ah...do that paperwork." she said.

Roy swallowed and avoided looking at her directly, "I have it Lieutenant."

Riza stood in the doorway for a few moments. Finally she decided she could enter and approach him.

"Give me half, sooner we finish the sooner we can leave." she said and held out her hand.

Roy obliged her and cut the stack in half. She took her papers and sat down at her desk. Both worked quietly until he cleared his throat, causing Riza to look up.

"About that thing-"he started.

"-alcohol sir, its alright." she cut him off.

"Y-yeah...But I just wanted to say-"

"No need to apologize, Colonel."

Roy huffed and lifted his eyes to meet hers. She did not flinch even despite her cheeks reddening. Hawkeye would not lose a staring contest. Was she mad or embarrassed? Mad he could take, she would just pull out her gun and threaten him, embarrassed meant she would internalize this.

"Why can't we just function like normal people outside of work?" he blurted out.

She blinked and cocked her head; obviously she wasn't going to give an answer to that.

"With our history, you'd think we could be friends." he continued.

"We are friends, sir." she replied coolly.

"But we don't act like it."

Riza stood up and slammed her hands down on the desk. "We can't be friends, sir, because you're my commanding officer and men and women can't _just be friends._" she said.

Roy stood up too. "So this is about last night!" he said, "I'm sorry if I overstepped my bounds with you. It was a mistake and it won't happen again."

Riza pressed her lips together in a firm, thin line. She collected up her coat and her stack of papers and turned on her heel to get to the door. Mustang bolted from behind his desk and grabbed her wrist.

"I can't win here Hawkeye; tell me, how do I make this right?" Mustang said, still holding her arm.

"By pretending nothing has changed and nothing _almost _happened." She said.

Mustang took her by the shoulders and turned her to face him, "Alright. But I just want you to know that it wasn't the liquor that made me come on to you. You mean a lot to me and if you don't feel the same way I can respect that." He whispered.

Riza turned her head and hoped her face wasn't as red and hot as it felt, "W-we can't jeopardize our working relationship..."

Roy stood over her and took a moment to decode her message.

He let her go and took a few steps back and looked her over. Riza Hawkeye, face red and tears sliding down her cheeks, hair in her eyes and faced turned away from him.

He stepped close to her again and wrapped his arms around her. She burrowed her face in his chest and tugged at the sides of his jacket.

"You have to see your mission through..." she mumbled.

"I understand, Riza," Roy said, kissing the top of her head. "And one day I'll do right by you."

He released her from his hug and she met his eyes. He nodded slightly and smiled.

"Merry Christmas, Riza."

"Merry Christmas, Roy..."

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Bahahaha sorry, what a cop out. No final kiss, no ultimate romance, no 'I love you's. Just a future promise of better times. R&R.


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